Beverage cooling apparatus

ABSTRACT

A beverage cooling apparatus includes a cooling module, a liquid tank, and a control unit. The cooling module comprises a compressor, a condenser, a flow controller, an evaporator and a plurality of circulating pipes. The compressor, the condenser, the flow controller and the evaporator are serially connected via each circulating pipe to form a closed circle for providing a conductive medium to circulate in the closed circle. The condenser has a fan. The liquid tank has a lateral wall. The evaporator is arranged adjacent to the lateral wall of the liquid tank, wherein a temperature sensor is arranged within the liquid tank. The control unit is electronically connected with the fan of the condenser and the temperature sensor respectively, wherein the control unit controls the fan to start/stop and further controls the rotational speed of the fan. Therefore, the compressor has long operation life because the compressor is not frequently start and stop.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a beverage cooling apparatus; more particularly, to a beverage cooling apparatus for maintaining the beverage within a predetermined temperature range to reduce the ON/OFF frequency of a compressor thereof.

2. Description of Related Art

FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional beverage cooling apparatus including a storage tank 91, a compressor 92, a condenser 93, a flow controller 98, an evaporator 94 and a control unit 95. The evaporator 94 is received within the storage tank 91. The compressor 92, condenser 93, flow controller 98 and evaporator 94 are serially connected via a circulating piping 96 to form a closed circle for circulating refrigerant. The refrigerant entering the compressor 92 is compressed in advance. Then the refrigerant flows through the condenser 93 for cooling down and being condensed. Finally, the refrigerant further flows through the evaporator 94 for heat absorption and vaporizing. Accordingly, when the beverage is injected into the storage tank 91, there is heat exchange between the evaporator 94 and the beverage that is therefore cooled.

Additionally, a temperature detector 97 is also provided within the storage tank 91, and both of the temperature detector 97 and compressor 92 are connected with the control unit 95.

In general, the conventional beverage cooling apparatus provides a predetermined temperature range having an upper limit and a lower limit. When the temperature detector 97 detects the temperature of the beverage stored within the storage tank 91 being lower than the lower limit, the control unit 95 will send a command to the compressor 92 to stop the operation thereof. Alternatively, the control unit 95 will send another command to restart the operation of the compressor 92 if the temperature of the beverage stored within the storage tank 91 is higher than the upper limit. However, when the compressor 92 is previously stopped, in order to prevent the compressor 92 from damage owing to imbalance in pressure of the circulating refrigerant, there should be an interval of at least 2 or 3 minutes between the stopping and restarting.

Therefore, when the temperature of the beverage stored within the storage tank 91 is lower than the lower limit and the compressor 92 is just stopped, the beverage will not be cooled immediately if the storage tank 91 is abruptly filled with beverage at room temperature which results in the temperature within the storage tank 91 being higher than the upper limit. As a result, a beverage cool enough for user to drink is not continuously supplied.

Furthermore, in practice, the predetermined temperature range of the conventional apparatus beverage cooling apparatus between the upper and lower limits is usually wide for reducing ON/OFF frequency of the compressor 92. However, with the wide temperature range, the beverage received in the storage tank 91 may frequently suffer great changes in temperature that affects the quality of the beverage, such as texture and mouthfeel of the beverage, especially for volatilized beverage.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The primary objective of the present invention is to provide a beverage cooling apparatus, wherein a compressor has long operation life because the compressor is not frequently start or stop.

Another objective of the present invention is to provide a beverage cooling apparatus with a better cooling effect because of setting of a short temperature range between an upper limit and a lower limit to avoid affecting the quality of the beverage.

A further objective of the present invention is to provide a beverage cooling apparatus, wherein if a temperature of an evaporator of a cooling module reaches a predetermined cooling temperature, a control unit controls stopping a fan of a condenser and wherein if a temperature of the evaporator of the cooling module reaches a predetermined high temperature, the control unit controls starting the fan of the condenser. Therefore, a heat exchange performance of the beverage cooling apparatus can be further enhanced.

In a first aspect, a beverage cooling apparatus according to the preferred teachings of the present invention comprises a cooling module including a compressor, a condenser, a flow controller, an evaporator and a plurality of circulating pipes serially connecting the compressor, the condenser, the flow controller, and the evaporator to form a closed circle for providing a conductive medium to circulate in the closed circle. The condenser includes a fan. A liquid tank has a lateral wall, with the evaporator being arranged adjacent to the lateral wall of the liquid tank. A temperature sensor is provided within the liquid tank. A control unit is electronically connected with the fan of the condenser and the temperature sensor arranged within the liquid tank respectively, wherein the control unit controls the fan to start/stop.

Preferably, the control unit controls the rotational speed of the fan.

Preferably, the control unit controls the rotational speed of the fan in accordance with a temperature detected by the temperature sensor.

Preferably, the beverage cooling apparatus further comprises a bypass pipe. One end of the bypass pipe is connected with one of the circulating pipes communicated between the compressor and the condenser. The other end of the bypass pipe is connected with another one of the circulating pipes communicated between the evaporator and the flow controller. The bypass pipe further has a control valve.

Preferably, the control valve is a solenoid valve. The solenoid valve is electronically connected with the control unit. The control unit controls the solenoid valve to open or close.

Preferably, the control unit controls solenoid valve to open or close the in accordance with a temperature detected by the temperature sensor.

Preferably, another temperature sensor is further provided on one of the circulating pipes connected between the compressor and the condenser.

Preferably, the another temperature sensor is electronically connected with the control unit.

Other objects, advantages and novel features of this invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram illustrating structure of a conventional beverage cooling apparatus.

FIG. 2 shows a block diagram illustrating structure of a first embodiment of a beverage cooling apparatus in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 3 shows a block diagram illustrating structure of a second embodiment of a beverage cooling apparatus in accordance with the present invention.

All figures are drawn for ease of explanation of the basic teachings of the present invention only; the extensions of the figures with respect to number, position, relationship, and dimensions of the parts to form the preferred embodiments will be explained or will be within the skill of the art after the following teachings of the present invention have been read and understood. Further, the exact dimensions and dimensional proportions to conform to specific force, weight, strength, and similar requirements will likewise be within the skill of the art after the following teachings of the present invention have been read and understood.

Where used in the various figures of the drawings, the same numerals designate the same or similar parts. Furthermore, when the terms “first”, “second”, “inner”, “outer”, “end”, “portion”, “section”, “axial”, “annular”, “spacing”, “height”, and similar terms are used herein, it should be understood that these terms have reference only to the structure shown in the drawings as it would appear to a person viewing the drawings and are utilized only to facilitate describing the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, a first embodiment of a beverage cooling apparatus in accordance with the present invention includes a cooling module 1, a liquid tank 2 and a control unit 3. The cooling module 1 further includes a compressor 11, a condenser 12, a flow controller 16, an evaporator 13 and a plurality of circulating pipes 14 serially connecting the compressor 11, condenser 12, flow controller 16, and evaporator 13 to form a closed circle. A conductive medium circulating in the closed circle is provided, and the conductive medium is preferably selected from a refrigerant. In operation, the conductive medium entering the compressor 11 is compressed in advance. Then the conductive medium flows through the condenser 12 for cooling down and being condensed. Finally, the conductive medium further flows through the evaporator 13 for heat absorption and vaporizing.

Furthermore, the flow controller 16 connected between the condenser 12 and the evaporator 13 can be selected from a capillary, an expansion valve or a flow limiter for transforming the conductive medium into a liquid status via decompressional expansion.

The condenser 12 includes a heat-dissipating pipe 121 and a fan 122. The heat-dissipating pipe 121 serially links two of the circulating pipes 14 connecting with the condenser 12. The fan 122 is arranged at one lateral side of the heat-dissipating pipe 121 for driving the air to pass by the outer periphery of the heat-dissipating pipe 121, so as to assist the conductive medium within the heat-dissipating pipe 121 to quickly cool down and condense.

The evaporator 13 is provided adjacent to a lateral wall of the liquid tank 2. Specifically, the evaporator 13 is arranged within the liquid tank 2 and arranged close to an inner circumference of the liquid tank 2, with two of the circulating pipes 14 connecting with the evaporator 13 penetrating the lateral wall of the liquid tank 2 as shown in FIG. 2. Alternatively, the evaporator 13 can also be arranged on an outer circumference of the liquid tank 2 as shown in FIG. 3. Preferably, the evaporator 13 is spirally arranged along the wall of the liquid tank 2.

In addition, two temperature sensors 21 and 22 are provided, wherein the one numbered as 21 is provided within the liquid tank 2 for sensing the temperature of the beverage received in the liquid tank 2 and another one numbered as 22 is provided on the circulating pipe 14 connected between the compressor 11 and the condenser 12. The two temperature sensors 21, 22 and the fan 122 of the condenser 12 are electronically connected with the control unit 3 respectively.

The control unit 3 receives a temperature signal generated by the temperature sensors 21 and further evaluates whether a value of the temperature signal is within a predetermined temperature range or not to control the fan 122 to start or stop. Meanwhile, a temperature difference between two temperature values respectively detected by the two temperature sensors 21 and 22 will be also jointly considered for the control of the fan 122. When the control unit 3 starts the fan 122, a rotational speed of the fan 122 can be further controlled by the control unit 3 in accordance with the two temperature values detected by the two temperature sensors 21 and 22 or the evaluated temperature difference. Preferably, the rotational speed is proportion to the temperature value detected by the temperature sensors 21.

Still referring to FIG. 2, the first embodiment of the beverage cooling apparatus is employed to cool down the beverage to the predetermined temperature range that is preferably lower than the room temperature and is defined between a upper limit and a lower limit.

In use, the beverage with normal temperature is filled into the liquid tank 2 and the compressor 11 is started first. The temperature signal generated by sensing the temperature of the beverage through the temperature sensors 21 is then sent to the control unit 3. If the control unit 3 evaluates the temperature of the beverage is higher than the upper limit, the control unit 3 will then send a control signal to start the fan 122. Thereby, the conductive medium passing through the heat-dissipating pipe 121 can be quickly cooled down and condensed for providing cool conductive medium to pass through the evaporator 13. Accordingly, the heat-exchange performance will be enhanced, and the temperature of the beverage can therefore be cooled down immediately.

When the temperature of the beverage is lower than the lower limit, the control unit 3 will stop the fan 122. Thus, even though the compressor 11 is still in operation, owing to the fan 122 assisting the conductive medium in the heat-dissipating pipe 121 to cool down no longer, the cooling and condensing performance of the condenser 12 will be decreased, such that the temperature of the conductive medium passing through the evaporator 13 will be increased. Actually, the temperature of the conductive medium may higher than the temperature of the beverage stored within the liquid tank 2 to gradually increase the temperature of the beverage by heat-exchanging.

When the temperature sensors 21 detects the increased temperature of the beverage is lower than the upper limit but higher than the lower limit and the compressor 11 is still in operation, the control unit 3 not only controls starting/stopping of the fan 122, but also controls the rotational speed of the fan 122 in accordance with the value of the temperature of the beverage detected by the temperature sensor 21.

The rotational speed of the fan 122 of the condenser 12 can be risen for assisting the heat-dissipating pipe 121 as well as the conductive medium therein to cool down immediately, and thus the temperature of the conductive medium in the evaporator 13 can also be quickly cooled down. Alternatively, the rotational speed of the fan 122 of the condenser 12 can be lowered for gradually decreasing the temperature of the conductive medium in the evaporator 13. Besides, another temperature detected by the temperature sensor 22 and control unit 3 can be utilized as a reference for precisely control the rotational speed of the fan 122. Accordingly, the temperature of the beverage stored within the liquid tank 2 can be precisely and stably kept between the upper limit and the lower limit. For example, the control unit 3 executes an operation to obtain a calculated temperature value weighted by two temperature values detected by the two temperature sensors 21, 22. The calculated temperature value is used to substitute the temperature value detected by the temperature sensors 21 in the above-illustrated control method. Namely, the calculated temperature value is compared with the upper limit and the lower limit temperature values for the control unit 3 to precisely control the fan 122 and the compressor 11.

Accordingly, through the control over the rotational speed of the fan 122 of the condenser 12, the temperature of the beverage stored within the liquid tank 2 is precisely controlled. Therefore, the temperature range between the upper limit and the lower limit can be further shortened to prevent the quality of the beverage, such as texture and mouthfeel of the beverage, from change.

Referring to FIG. 3, a second embodiment of a beverage cooling apparatus in accordance with the present invention is shown, which also includes a cooling module 1, a liquid tank 2 and a control unit 3. The cooling module 1 further includes a compressor 11, a condenser 12, a flow controller 16, an evaporator 13 and a plurality of circulating pipes 14 a, 14 b and 14 c.

In comparison with the first embodiment, the second embodiment has somewhat different in that a bypass pipe 15 is provided. One end of the bypass pipe 15 is connected with the circulating pipe 14 a communicated between the compressor 11 and the condenser 12. The other end of the bypass pipe 15 is connected with the circulating pipe 14 b communicated between the evaporator 13 and the flow controller 16. The bypass pipe 15 further provides a control valve 151 wherein the control valve 151 is selected from a constant pressure valve or a solenoid valve. Therefore, the conductive medium can be controlled to flow from the compressor 11 to the evaporator 13 directly or additionally through the condenser 12.

For instance, when the control valve 151 is the constant pressure valve, the pressure in the bypass pipe 15 can be fixed at a predetermined pressure value. Alternatively, when the control valve 151 is the solenoid valve, the solenoid valve is electronically connected with the control unit 3, so that the control unit 3 can open or close the solenoid valve in accordance with a temperature detected by the temperature sensor 21. Accordingly, the control valve 151 can control whether the conductive medium pass through the bypass pipe 15 or not.

In operation, when the temperature of the beverage detected by the temperature sensors 21 is higher than the upper limit, the control unit 3 will then send a control signal to start the fan 122 such that the temperature of the beverage can be cooled down. However, if the beverage stored within the liquid tank 2 is too less, the temperature of the beverage will be abruptly cooled down. Consequently, even if the control unit 3 stops the fan 122, recovery of temperature of the beverage is still slow for the heat-dissipating pipe 121 of the condenser 12 still proceeds heat-dissipation by the heat-dissipating sink thereof. And this situation results in that the temperature of the evaporator 13 can only be increased slowly.

Hence, under the above situation, by opening the control valve 151, the conductive medium with higher temperature compressed by the compressor 11 can be passed through the bypass pipe 15 to directly enter the evaporator 13, such that the temperature of the evaporator 13 can be rapidly increased so as to avoid the beverage in the liquid tank 2 being frozen or deteriorated.

While the principles of this invention have been disclosed in connection with specific embodiments, it should be understood by those skilled in the art that these descriptions are not intended to limit the scope of the invention, and that any modification and variation without departing the spirit of the invention is intended to be covered by the scope of this invention defined only by the appended claims. 

1. A beverage cooling apparatus comprising: a cooling module including a compressor, a condenser, a flow controller, an evaporator and a plurality of circulating pipes serially connecting the compressor, the condenser, the flow controller, and the evaporator to form a closed circle for providing a conductive medium to circulate in the closed circle, with the condenser including a fan; a liquid tank having a lateral wall, with the evaporator being arranged adjacent to the lateral wall of the liquid tank, and with a temperature sensor provided within the liquid tank; and a control unit electronically connecting to the fan of the condenser and the temperature sensor respectively; wherein the control unit controls the fan to start or stop.
 2. The beverage cooling apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the control unit controls a rotational speed of the fan.
 3. The beverage cooling apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein the control unit controls the rotational speed of the fan in accordance with a temperature detected by the temperature sensor.
 4. The beverage cooling apparatus as claimed in claim 1 further comprising a bypass pipe, with one end of the bypass pipe connected with one of the circulating pipes communicated between the compressor and the condenser, with the other end of the bypass pipe connected with another one of the circulating pipe communicated between the evaporator and the flow controller, and with the bypass pipe having a control valve.
 5. The beverage cooling apparatus as claimed in claim 4, wherein the control valve is a solenoid valve, with the solenoid valve electronically connected with the control unit for the control unit to open or close the solenoid valve.
 6. The beverage cooling apparatus as claimed in claim 5, wherein the control unit controls the solenoid valve to open or close in accordance with a temperature detected by the temperature sensor.
 7. The beverage cooling apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein another temperature sensor is further provided on one of the circulating pipes connected between the compressor and the condenser.
 8. The beverage cooling apparatus as claimed in claim 7, wherein the another temperature sensor is electronically connected with the control unit. 